The crew of SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission successfully made history during their five-day journey in space. And with the mission’s Crew Dragon spacecraft safely making it back to Earth, SpaceX has proven its mettle yet again as the world’s premier space company.
The Polaris Dawn crew achieved a number of milestones during their five-day journey. As noted in a report from The Debrief, the commercial spacewalk conducted by crew members Jared Isaacman and Sarah Gillis signified milestones for spaceflight as a whole.
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 15, 2024
At just under 435 miles above the Earth, the event marked the most remote spacewalk ever conducted. Gillis, a SpaceX employee, also became the youngest person to date to have performed a spacewalk at just 30 years old. The spacewalk itself is not just for demonstration either, as it allowed SpaceX to gather valuable data on the performance of its Extravehicular Activity (EVA) suits.
It is with great relief that I welcome you home! This mission was even more extraordinary than I anticipated. Sarah — that global orchestral performance made me tear up!
Thank you all for taking this journey. https://t.co/WvJFzaqfJc
— Gwynne Shotwell (@Gwynne_Shotwell) September 15, 2024
The Polaris Dawn mission was not only focused on completing the world’s farthest spacewalk. It also included a list of 36 experiments that the crew performed over their journey. SpaceX partnered with 31 institutions for these experiments, which included NASA, the U.S. Air Force Academy, and a number of universities. The mission also passed through the Van Allen Radiation Belt, where the crew collected data on the effects of space radiation on the human body.
Polaris crew is home safe & sound! https://t.co/2wch1wlBoX pic.twitter.com/BYfz3pq3x5
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 15, 2024
Ultimately, the Polaris Dawn mission proved to be a productive endeavor that could very well have opened the doors to even more ambitious commercial missions in the coming years. SpaceX’s ultimate goal is to reach Mars and make life interplanetary, after all, so missions like Polaris Dawn, which push the envelope forward, are extremely valuable.
Congratulations @PolarisProgram and @SpaceX on the first commercial spacewalk in history!
Today’s success represents a giant leap forward for the commercial space industry and @NASA‘s long-term goal to build a vibrant U.S. space economy. https://t.co/9cBwpeWUAT
— Bill Nelson (@SenBillNelson) September 12, 2024
The return of the four crew members of the mission— Jared Isaacman, Anna Menon, Sarah Gillis, and Scott Poteet—was widely celebrated by the space community online. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and President Gwynne Shotwell both highlighted the milestone on their personal social media pages, and so did 14th NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, who dubbed the Polaris Dawn mission “a giant leap forward for the commercial space industry and NASA’s long-term goal to build a vibrant U.S. space economy.
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